On February 21-22, 2024, many from Center for Healthy Communities (CHC) at Chico State attended the CHEBNA Summit (California Higher Education Basic Needs Alliance) in Sacramento, California. The summit brought together more than 900 students, faculty, staff, administrators, and community partners to explore the share best practices and learn from each other how to advance basic needs security for college students across the state.
On day one, Emily Foxworthy, CHC Program Manager, moderated a session titled “Elevating College Student CalFresh Outreach: Strategies for Awareness, Access, and Equity.” Speakers included Brandi Simonaro, CHC Project Director, as well as three of our campuses: California State University, Stanislaus, Mt. San Antonio College, and University of California, Merced. Throughout the session, Brandi took us on a history lesson of CalFresh for College students and our three campus speakers shared tools and lessons learned from their CalFresh outreach efforts. With more than 125 participants in attendance, the speakers all spoke from the heart and shared best practices that would help every campus there.
Later that day, Aaron Kunst, CHC Project Director, stunned us all with his outfit change during the plenary panel, “Basic Needs as a Human Right.” Aaron celebrated the 1.2 million college student applications submitted since the last CHEBNA was held in 2020 and the 11,000+ LPIE’s (Local Programs that Increase Employability) approved by the California Department of Social Services in partnership with the CHC CFO Resource Hub and college campuses. Sharing how we need to do more to support college students facing food insecurity from a local, state, and especially federal level…hopefully the EATS Act sweatshirt did the trick!
On the second day, Stephanie Bianco, CHC Center Co-Director, and CSU and UC partner colleagues Aydin Nazmi and Suzanna Martinez, presented “CalFresh Research: An Interactive Gap Analysis.” During the session they shared a variety of basic needs research and engaged with attendees through a community idea generation finding gaps in research.
CHC Program Managers, Michele Buran, Alyson Wylie, and Jessica Medina finished off strong with more than 75 participants (35 unique campuses) attending their session, “Nourishing Minds, Empowering Futures: Integrating Nutrition Security into Food Security Initiatives on College Campuses.” The session focused on helping campuses across the state find ways to best integrate nutrition security into the work they’re already doing with basic needs.
At the “Basic Needs, A Collective Responsibility Plenary” panel, Amber Bonilla, California Department of Social Services CalFresh Policy Section Chief, discussed the important steps the state has and can continue to take to uplift college students in accessing CalFresh. Amber gave CHC a big shout out on the collaborative partnership CDSS and CHC has built including work with the CalFresh Resource Hub.
All CHC attendees came back with potential new partnerships, innovative outreach ideas, and a deeper passion for supporting college students statewide. We look forward to CHEBNA 2026, which will be hosted by the California Community Colleges.
Written by Jessica Medina
